Plenty of Nothing

Lake Ficino

Lake Ficino and the Abruzzi Mountains (c 1789) by Joseph Bidauld. Lake Ficino was at least partly drained by the Romans via the Tunnels of Claudius, but it filled up again in the Middle Ages and was not definitively reclaimed until the 1870s. The Avezzano grew up on the shores of the lake. Source.

Sim Greenock

A steam train passes under the Mearns Street Bridge. See here for an amazing set of computer simulations of Greenock rail. Compare the lower photo in this post.

Morton host Livingston in what increasingly looks like a playoff preview. Livi are second in the division, Morton third. Both are doing very well at the moment.

Current unbeaten streaks (league):

6        Livingston

5        Morton

3        Falkirk

2        Dunfermline

2        QoS

1        St Mirren

1        Dumbarton

0        Dundee United

0        Inverness CT

0        Brechin

This is only the second league match between Morton and Livingston this season. Livi won the first one, plus a Challenge Cup match, both of them back in August. Two more games are scheduled March 13th and April 7th. And then there's the playoffs.

In contrast, March 10th will be Morton's final game against Falkirk for 2017-18.

Livingston are the only Championship side that Morton have not beaten this season. Morton's last win against Livingston was in April 2016, the year Livi were relegated.

Today's match at Cappielow comes after a string of three away games for Morton, and ahead of four more. That's alright, though, because Morton's record is better away than at home.

[Morton 0 - 1 Livingston.]

Other match of the day: Dundee United vs QoS [postponed.]

1978-79. On February 26th Morton and St Johnstone played their Scottish Cup Round Three replay at old Muirton Park. Morton won 2 - 4 to advance. Goals by Alistair Scott and Andy Ritchie with his second hat trick of the season.

How many games have Greenock Morton played against the other 2017-18 Championship clubs?

St Mirren             200

Falkirk                 194

Dumbarton         168

Dundee Utd        113

Dunfermline        103

QoS                    101

Brechin                75

Livingston            67

Inverness CT       15

Now, make a chart in which each 2017-18 Championship club points to the other one they have played most often:

 

When did Morton last win in the other team's* park?

2018/2/24          Inverness CT

2018/2/20          Dumbarton

2018/1/27          Dundee United

2018/1/20          Dunfermline

2017/11/25        Falkirk

2017/10/14        Brechin

2017/9/16          Queen of the South

2017/7/15          Berwick

2017/2/7            Raith Rovers

2017/1/28          Ayr United

2016/8/9            Hamilton

2016/7/23          Kilmarnock

2016/7/16          Albion Rovers (shootout)

2016/2/24          Hibs

2016/2/6            Annan 

2016/1/9            Livingston

2015/8/29          Alloa

2015/4/25          Stranraer

2015/4/18          Stirling Albion

2015/2/28          Peterhead

2015/1/31          Forfar

2015/1/10          Stenhousemuir

2014/11/15        (the new) Airdrieonians

2013/9/24          Celtic

2013/8/3            East Fife

2012/12/26        Partick Thistle

2012/9/15          Cowdenbeath

2011/12/26        Dundee

2009/3/3            Clyde

2005/3/5            Arbroath

2003/1/25          Ross County

2002/9/21          Montrose

1999/4/10          St Mirren

1995/9/2            St Johnstone

1984/8/18          Hearts

1981/2/7            Aberdeen

1980/11/29        Rangers

1970/8/22          Motherwell

never                 (the new) Edinburgh City

*current SPFL clubs only

April 2018 Afternoon Cover

The first installment of Kio Shimoku's new manga Hashikko Ensemble is out, and Afternoon gave it the magazine cover. I'm greatly encouraged by the Ogiue/Renko-looking character in the upper left, and vaguely anxious about the Kuchiki-looking character at the bottom. Source.

The meaning of hashikko.

Plastic Sturgeon

Source.

Inverness Away

Kingsmill Park, ancient home of Inverness Thistle. Source.

Morton visit Inverness CT at Caledonian Stadium where they have never won a game. In 9 visits Morton have 2 draws and 7 losses.

2017-18 is two-thirds over. After 24 league matches Morton have 10 wins, 8 draws and 6 losses, 34 goals for and 23 against. (They lead the division in that last category.) At this pace they'll end the season with 57 points.

Even with a loss today Morton cannot drop below fourth place. If Morton win today they will have beaten both Challenge Cup finalists in the same week.

Morton are in the process of signing forward John Baird from ICT. He has played for Clyde, St Mirren, Stenny, Montrose, Brechin, Airdrie, Raith, Dundee, Partick, Queen of the South, Falkirk and ICT.

ICT are in seventh position and could fall to eighth today depending on ---

The other match of the day: Falkirk [0 - 0] Dumbarton.

[Morton win 0 - 2. Goals by Tiffoney and Harkins. Morton take over third place. Also, Brechin cannot earn promotion.]

Inverness Caledonian Thistle was formed in 1994 from two crosstown rivals, Caledonian and Inverness Thistle. Both were members of the Highland League from its foundation in 1893. Caledonian won the Highland League title 18 times, Thistle 8 times. Caledonian won the Highland League Cup 5 times, Thistle 3. Caledonian won the North of Scotland Cup 20 times, Thistle 13. Inverness CT have continued to participate in the North of Scotland Cup and have won it 4 times.

We're lucky Inverness CT weren't named Inverness United. The world is filling up with soccer teams named United. What we're witnessing is an excelerated form of the Galton-Watson process of surname extinction in which both surnames die out.

Ayr United is an extreme example of club name extinction. Ayr Academy and Ayr Eglinton merged to form Ayr Academicals. Ayr Academicals and Ayr Thistle merged to form Ayr FC. Finally Ayr FC and Ayr Parkhouse merged to form Ayr United.

1978-79. On February 19th Morton met St Johnstone at Cappielow in Round Three of the Scottish Cup. The game ended in a 1 - 1 draw, necessitating a replay. Andy Ritchie scored on a penalty shot.

On February 24th Morton were away to Easter Road where they played Hibs to a 1 - 1 draw. Bobby Thomson scored.

1933-34. On February 24th Morton visited East Stirlingshire at Firs Park and won 0 - 2.

1944-45. It was the Southern League Cup. Morton found themselves in Section 3 with Queen's Park, Hamilton Accies and the old Airdrieonians. On this date Morton hosted Queen's Park, who pulled out a 0 - 2 win.

What are the clubs of East Ayrshire?

SPFL: Kilmarnock FC.

SJFA West Super League Premier Division: Auchinleck Talbot, Glenafton Athletic, Cumnock Juniors, Hurlford United.

SJFA West Super League First Division: Darvel Juniors.

Ayrshire District League: Craigmark Burtonians, Lugar Boswell Thistle, Muirkirk Juniors.

The West Region is due to undergo restructuring thus summer, so enjoy the Ayrshire District League while it still exists.

It's the CONCACAF Champions League, Round of 16, first leg. Let's follow the two clubs we have met already: Cibao, winners of the 2017 Caribbean Club Championship, and Olimpia, winners of the 2017 CONCACAF League, plus Toronto FC because Canada. We'll see how far they get. This cup is always won by a Mexican club.

Olimpia 1 - 1 New York Red Bulls

Cibao 0 - 2 Guadalajara

Colorado Rapids 0 - 2 Toronto FC

Europa League Round of 32, second leg:

Zenit 3 - 0 Celtic

Celtic are out.

Arsenal 1 - 2 Östersund

But Arsenal advance on aggregate score.

AFC Champions League, Group Stage, matchday 2:

Group E: Kashiwa Reysol 1 - 1 Tianjin Quanjian

Group F: Ulsan Hyundai 2 - 1 Kawasaki Frontale

Group G: Cerezo Osaka 0 - 0 Guangzhou Evergrande

Group H: Suwon Samsung Bluewings 0 - 1 Kashima Antlers

I intend to follow Tokyo 23 FC this year. They play in the Kantō Soccer League Division One, part of the fifth tier of Japanese football, making them roughly equal to Vanraure Hachinohe and ReinMeer Aomori of the Tohoku League. They've spent February training. Tomorrow they play a friendly against [former] league rivals Aries FC (spelled エリースFC, which Google Translate consistently and charmingly turns into Elise FC ).

The League of Ireland First Division begins play today. 2018 is the first year for the new 10-team format. Later on I'll work up some stats to see if the LOI First Dvision can knock off the Swiss Challenge League as the division most like the Scottish Championship.

In the meantime it's UCD [2 - 1] Shelbourne, a Dublin derby.

I also mean to follow Malmö FF, as Fouad Bachirou is now a player there. Currently they're involved in the group stage of the 2017-18 Svenska Cupen. Rounds One and Two were played last June and August. Malmö's results were:

R1        bye

R2        FC Trollhättan 1 - 4 Malmö FF

Malmö are in Group One along with IF Brommapojkarna, Dalkurd FF and Gefle IF. Last week it was:

Malmö 1 - 0 Dalkurd

Tomorrow it's:

Gefle [0 - 3] Malmö

And while we're at it let's follow our old pals Mito HollyHock, who are still in J2 and maybe always will be:

Mito HollyHock [3 - 0] Montedio Yamagata

Morton visit Cumbernauld Colts in Round One of the SWFL Division One Cup. [Cumbernauld 5 - 3 Morton.]

Abruzzo: L'Aquila [0 - 0] Francavilla

SJFA West First Division: Rutherglen Glencairn [0 - 0] Largs Thistle

Regionalliga Südwest: 1. FC Saarbrücken [2 - 2] Mainz II

Telford Street Park, Caledonian's erstwhile home ground. Source.

Gold Sandwich Glass

Early Islamic gold sandwich glass vessel. Gold sandwich glass is also the secret ingredient of Byzantine mosaics. Source.

Eumenes Manga

The manga Historie, by Hitoshi Iwaaki, set in the wars of Alexander the Great, and centering on Alexander's secretary, Eumenes, has been running in Afternoon magazine since 2003 and is up to volume 10 in tankōbon form. The artist is Hitoshi Iwaaki.

The Raccoon Catcher

Dumbarton Morton Rearranged

Dumbarton in black and white days. Dumbarton Stadium is located within the former William Denny shipyard, right where those two ships are tied up.

Morton visit Dumbarton for a match rescheduled from December 30th. Morton are in fourth place, and a win tonight would put them four points up on Dunfermline and only two behind third-place Dundee United. Dumbarton are in ninth place, a gaping nine points behind Falkirk, but with three games in hand. The Sons need to get it going or they'll be up against the resurgent Ayr United in the playoffs.

Morton are unbeaten in five games. Dumbarton defeated The New Saints on Saturday but have not earned a point in league play since January 2nd.

[Morton win 0 - 1. Goal by O'Ware.]

How many games have Dumbarton played against the other 2017-18 Championship clubs?

Morton                    171

Brechin                    139

QoS                         119

St Mirren                  104

Falkirk                      103

Dunfermline               95

Dundee Utd               94

Livingston                  46

Inverness CT              4

How many points render a Championship club safe from relegation? That number varies from year to year, but since 1994 no tier II team with 43 has been relegated.

Special investigation: The wind at Dumbarton Stadium. Dumbarton play at the foot of Dumbarton Rock. It's a windy place. Does the wind at Dumbarton Stadium suppress goal scoring? Let's compare goalscoring at Dumbarton Stadium with goalscoring at the nine other league stadiums in Dumbarton's division over the past five years, combining the goals scored by both teams in a game. To simplify the math let's only count goals from league matches.

Total goals scored at each Championship park in league play:

2016-17 Championship

54        Palmerston Park (Qos)

53        Falkirk Stadium

53        East End (Dunfermline)

50        Easter Road (Hibs)

48        Tannadice (Dundee Utd)

47        St Mirren Park

45        Somerset (Ayr Utd)

42        Stark's Park (Raith)

40        Cappielow (Morton)

37        Dumbarton Stadium

2015-16 Championship

61        Ibrox (Rangers)

60        Dumbarton Stadium   

53        Palmerston Park (QoS)

52        Easter Road (Hibs)

52        St Mirren Park

50        Stark's Park (Raith)

46        Falkirk Stadium

42        Recreation Park (Alloa)

34        Cappielow (Morton)

33        Almondvale (Livingston)

2014-15 Championship

69        Tynecastle (Hearts)

65        Stark's Park (Raith)

64        Ibrox (Rangers)

55        Dumbarton Stadium   

48        Easter Road (Hibs)

47        Central Park (Cowdenbeath)

46        Palmerston Park (QoS)

46        Recreation Park (Alloa)

44        Almondvale (Livingston)

41        Falkirk Stadium

2013-14 Championship

64        New Douglas Park (Hamilton)

62        Stark's Park (Raith)

62        Central Park (Cowdenbeath)

61        Dumbarton Stadium  

51        Falkirk Stadium

51        Almondvale (Livingston)

45        Palmerston Park (QoS)

41        Cappielow (Morton)

39        Recreation Park (Alloa)

36        Dens Park (Dundee)

2012-13 First Division

66        Firhill (Partick)

66        Dumbarton Stadium      

64        Central Park (Cowdenbeath)

59        Almondvale (Livingston)  

59        Excelsior Stadium (Airdrie)

56        East End (Dunfermline)

54        Cappielow (Morton)

53        Falkirk Stadium

49        New Douglas Park (Hamilton)

44        Stark's Park (Raith)

Dumbarton Stadium had the lowest scoring last year, but the fourth-highest twice, second-highest once, and joint-highest another time. We have not shown that the wind makes any difference.

The Sons have a Poet-In-Residence.

Explore the Dumbarton Football Club Historical Archive.

4000

The east summit of Les Droites in the French Alps is precisely 4000 metres above sea level, making it the shortest of the eighty-two European peaks in the 4000m-and-up class. Source. This post is #4000 from Plenty of Nothing.